6 The Future of Transport
45. The 10 Year Plan was extremely ambitious. It
set out targets for improvement in each transport sector. Many
of those targets were carried through to the Public Service Agreements
the Department agreed with the Treasury, which have evolved over
the last four years. It is noticeable that The Future of Transport
sets out more general policies, and lacks all targets save those
set out in the Public Service Agreements with the Treasury, which
we discuss in more detail below.
46. The Future of Transport
is built on three central themes; sustained investment; improvements
in transport management and planning ahead. It is in sharp contrast
to the optimism of the original 10 Year Plan:
Our strategy for transport is to tackle congestion
and pollution by improving all types of transport - rail and road,
public and private - in ways that increase choice. It is a strategy
for investment in the future to create prosperity and a better
environment.
This requires a new approach, based on:
- integrated transport: looking
at transport as a whole, matching solutions to specific problems
by assessing all the options.
- public and private partnership: government and
the private sector working more closely together to boost investment.
- new projects: modernising our transport network.[34]
47. When we asked the Secretary of State why he had
abandoned ambitious targets for a plan which was much more general,
he responded that:
many of the things set out in the 10 Year Plan are
either being delivered or in the course of construction. Of course,
four years on there are things that have changed. Every time I
come to this Committee I point out that some of the assumptions
made in relation to what could be done and the price at which
they could be done have proved to be rather optimistic, and the
railways is a classic example of that - light rail is another
example. What we have done is to build on the 10 Year Plan.[35]
He maintained that three White Papers together set
out "a clear direction of travel", and should be read
alongside the many other documents which set out more detailed
projects.
48. Some recent developments have been distinctly
discouraging: we note that the recent decision to combine all
grants for sustainable transport into a single fund has been accompanied
by a cut in such funds. The Department for Transport predicts
that in 2005-06 and 2006-07 £50.4 million will be available
for rail freight grants and £19.2 million for road and water
freight schemes; in 2007-08 "when rail freight grants are
incorporated into the new arrangements, the total budget for all
modes has been provisionally set at £22.6million".[36]
Even so, the Secretary of State's emphasis on producing change
through an approach which matches solutions to specific problems
may ultimately produce a high-quality, integrated transport network.
His recent speech to the Future of Rail conference detailed the
improvements this approach had already produced on the railway
and suggested a welcome willingness to consider increasing the
capacity of the network.[37]
Private sector investment
49. It may be significant that although The Future
of Transport suggests that the public and private sector should
work closely together to boost investment, there is now little
information about the level of private investment in our transport
system. The Departmental Annual Report contains figures for gross
investment, including publicly supported investment by the private
sector, but no figures for direct private sector investment. The
Secretary of State told us that he anticipated the level of private
investment in the transport network would remain at about the
level predicted by the 10 Year Plan.
In the railways, it will continue to come from the
train operating companies to some extent, it will come from the
rolling stock companies, and also of course Network Rail raises
a very substantial sum. There is also money coming through the
Channel Tunnel link. In relation to roads, I anticipate money
coming through. The exact number of PFI schemes probably will
change over the next few years, but I think broadly the amount
of money that we anticipated coming from the private sector over
the period will continue. There will be fluctuations from time
to time but I am reasonably optimistic there.[38]
Nonetheless, neither the Annual Report nor The
Future of Transport gives any clear information about private
sector funding. Although the Secretary of State may be right to
be optimistic, it is notable that some recent, and welcome, changes
may reduce private-sector willingness to invest.[39]
34 Transport 2010: The 10 Year Plan, Department of
the Environment, Transport and the Regions, July 2000, p.9 Back
35
Q 3 Back
36
Department for Transport Press Notice, New Approach to Promoting
Cleaner, Safer, Freight Transport, 1 February 2005, 007, GN REF,
11076 Back
37
Future of Rail conference ,Speech by Alistair Darling, 3 February
2005.www.dft,gov,uk Back
38
Q 92 Back
39
see, for example the change of policy about the use and treatment
of PFI projects noted above Back
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